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A lot or a little?

The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

Positive Messages

Amid the over-the-top action/humor is the idea that it's important to be who you are and not to pretend to be something you aren't, a lesson the main characters eventually learn. And also, if you believe in your work, then be prepared to advocate for it.

Positive Role Models & Representations

Ryan and Justin start the film as meek and somewhat ashamed for their lack or career success. Over the course of the movie, they learn to become more assertive and more comfortable with who they are. Of course, they get there by impersonating police officers, which isn't the best example, but it's played for laughs. The main female character is a love interest in need of rescue.

Violence

Several scenes show policemen and criminals engaged in shoot-outs, with many people injured or dead. Other scenes feature violent fist fights that leave combatants unconscious. One character is threatened with torture by someone who's prone to explosive moments (he head-butts his minions and gets into battles at the drop of a hat). Some mobsters show their contempt for others by spitting in their faces.

Sex

A man and woman flirt with each other and later kiss passionately. In one scene, she takes off her top and tries to kiss him -- she's shown partially nude from behind. Another sequence includes a woman who aggressively comes on to two men, making a variety of crude and suggestive comments, though she's also quite awkward, and the scene is played more for laughs than raciness. Four police officers try to apprehend a very large, naked man and must tackle him. The scene leaves one character quite close to the man's genitals; much is made of how the proximity made him uncomfortable.

Language

Heavy swearing in almost every scene, including "f--k," "d--k," "p---y," "s--t," "ass" and many, many permutations and variations. Male characters call each other "p---y" and "bitch" to impugn each other's manhood.

Consumerism

Friends relax while drinking Budweiser beer. Many Apple products are shown on-screen, including phones and computers. Also Ford vehicles.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Several scenes show adults drinking beer or wine at restaurants, nightclubs, or at home. Multiple sequences feature people smoking pot, including one scene that shows billowing clouds coming from the windows of a parked car. An extended sequence includes one main character who's coerced into smoking crystal meth, and he then comments on how it's affecting him.

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that Let's Be Cops is an over-the-top comedy about two average guys who decide to impersonate Los Angeles police officers and end up becoming embroiled in a real mob scheme. There's a lot of shooting and fighting, as well as tons of swearing (with every word you can imagine in almost every scene), some drinking, and drug use (both pot and crystal meth). The violence is pretty realistic, and when people get shot or punched, it really hurts. Characters also make sexual references, flirt, and kiss; in one scene, a woman takes off her top (she's shown from the back), and in another, an officer trying to apprehend a naked man ends up in close proximity to the man's genitals.

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What's the story?

Justin (Damon Wayans Jr.) and Ryan (Jake Johnson) are both pushing 30 and still haven't made it big after moving to Los Angeles from Ohio. Justin's desperate to get his video game project launched, but his company still treats him like an intern; Ryan's got no acting gigs (or actual professional goals, for that matter) after one stint in a herpes commercial. After dressing up as LAPD officers to attend a costume party, the duo discovers that the uniform lends them some cachet. Jaded with their real identities, they decide to start patrolling the city. But wearing the uniform comes with major responsibilities, including dealing with a vicious mobster who's marauding L.A. in partnership with an unknown criminal.

Is it any good?

LET'S BE COPS owes a lot to New Girl; its two leads successfully migrate the strikingly warm and funny rapport they share on that sitcom to this formulaic but still (somewhat) entertaining comedy. Both Wayans and Johnson throw themselves into the plot with such gusto ... which makes it even more of a pity that the screenplay is a retread of every single buddy comedy that ever was.

As a love interest, Nina Dobrev isn't given much to do besides play girl needing rescuing. (Aren't we tired of this cliche yet?) Then again, neither is anybody else, including Andy Garcia, who's criminally underused, and even the two headliners, who manage to eke out something close to entertaining even though they're left to their own devices by the so-so material and all-too-basic direction.

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